Hidden Not Lost
by RoverGirl
Summary: One shot. The Doctor can't find the umbrellas he's looking for.


Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fan based fiction. Doctor Who, its characters and creations belong to their respective owners. Please support the official release.

* * *

Martha looked up from old red box full of various junk and stuff the Doctor had collected over his centuries spent gallivanting across time and space in generous indulgent portions.

"Are you sure it's in one of these boxes?" she asked again for the third time that hour.

The Doctor popped up from inside one particularly large box, a dive mask and snorkel haphazardly positioned on his head.

"Oh quite certain," he replied, diving back into the box and tossing out a pink feather boa and some sort of wiry gadget without due care.

"I'm positive I put it into storage," he added, said more to himself than to Martha.

The beautiful dark-skinned human shook her head in disbelief.

One minute she'd been sat in the kitchen eating her breakfast quite contently, wondering where she and the Doctor would end up next when said Time Lord had bustled in carrying huge armfuls of electronic equipment and other miscellaneous items, with a bright purple bandanna tied around his head, whistling some archaic tune from the previous century, greeted her warmly and enthusiastically then proceeded to trip over a chair and drop everything everywhere and declared he was looking for a little green box which contained those little umbrellas you put in cool drinks because they were important for the next place they were visiting and all the stuff he had in his hands was stuff he'd forgotten he had and wanted to put somewhere where he could find it for later on as he was bound to need it.

The Doctor's logic was confusing at the best of times but she loved it when he smiled and after helping him pick up his stuff they agreed that the control room was probably the best location to search through the boxes without getting muddled up.

An hour and a half later, they were still looking and rummaging through various boxes and containers the Doctor had brought up from somewhere in the bowels of the TARDIS.

"That's what you said about the last bunch of boxes you brought in here," Martha told him, trying to work out what exactly was in the glittering jars she'd found.

A loud clanging sound resonated around the TARDIS control room.

"Ow!"

Martha looked up in time to see a large gong bounce across the floor followed by a clown fish hat and what looked like a cross between a saxophone and an old type writer.

"Now I know it's here somewhere, only a matter of time before we find it," the Doctor told her.

"Are you okay, Doctor?" she asked him.

He poked his head up again, this time wearing some sort of complicated headdress from some alien world he'd visited and 3D glasses for some odd reason.

"What? Me? I'm fine," he replied, ducking back into his box, "just keep looking, those umbrellas will surface somewhere!"

Martha rolled her eyes as she kept looking.

"Maybe the TARDIS is hiding them from you?" she suggested as she kept searching.

"She wouldn't dare."

Martha looked up and was startled to see the Doctor standing in front of her, looking at her in confusion.

His facial expression changed to one of acceptance.

"Actually she would do that," he replied nonchalantly.

He leapt away from Martha to the main console, hitting and tapping various controls whilst he ran around the console.

The console in return whistled and beeped back and.

Without warning the TARDIS shook violently, causing her passengers to lose their balance.

"Ah," the Doctor said aloud as he picked himself up, "she won't tell me anything. Oh well, back to a manual search."

He went straight back to searching through the boxes, ditching the headdress as he did, as if the TARDIS hadn't actually shook.

"They're around here somewhere," he muttered, tossing clear yet more items from his travels.

The control room was mess, askew with various items.

It looked more like a bomb blast zone than a control room!

"Doctor?" Martha asked looking at him, "maybe if you stopped looking for them they'll show up?"

The Doctor looked up and back at her, glasses now ditched.

"Pardon?"

"You'll find them when you're not looking for them," Martha explained.

The Doctor looked dumbfounded.

"How does that work then?" he asked curiously.

Martha shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know. Maybe it gives your mind a break so you remember where you put something rather than being worked up about it?"

"But we need them for where we're going," he whined, "we can't stop now."

Martha couldn't stop a smile from gracing her features.

"We take a break now and come back to the search. C'mon, Doctor," she said as she stood up, "I'll go put the kettle on, make us some tea."

The Doctor considered the idea and then nodded his head in agreement.

"A cup of tea does sound like a nice idea," he admitted, jumping out of the box and dropping the old diving helmet he had in his hand.

He strolled up to her.

"Lead the way, Martha Jones," he told her, beaming brightly.

Walking side by side through the maze of corridors they reached and entered the spacious silver decorated kitchen. The Doctor plonked himself in one of the comfy chairs at the large circular table while Martha switched the kettle on which was located on one of the white surface units next to several clear glass biscuit tins filled to the top with delightful treats.

She took two blue mugs out of one of the sleek silver cabinets above her head.

She liked the kitchen; it reminded her of the old 1960s sci-fi series with their silvers sets and flashy colours.

"So, this place we're heading to," she started as she placed tea bags in both their mugs, "what's it like?"

The Doctor smiled at her.

"It's beautiful," he replied, "the whole planet is paradise, in fact it's called that. Paradise Three. Amazing place, consists of shallow seas and small islands, white sand beaches and palm trees all round. You can actually swim between the islands, well I say swim, I mean walk, the average water depth is 1.3 metres. In the deepest seas it goes down to 19 metres and there's boats for longer commutes to bigger islands. And the skies, so pretty, they're a vibrant pink, have their own micro stars in the atmosphere which twinkle like multicoloured diamonds and there's this phenomenon similar to the Northern Lights, it's a sight to be hold."

"Sounds wonderful," Martha replied.

"It sure is," the Doctor replied, "I thought you'd like it."

The kettle clicked as it finished boiling and Martha served up their drinks, adding milk and sugar and brought them to the table.

"What? No biscuits?" the Doctor asked disappointedly.

Martha smiled at him.

"You are such a child at times," she told him, heading back to the biscuit jars.

"Try the cupboard by the fridge, I have some coconut crunch biscuits from Paradise Three in there," the Doctor advised her.

Martha turned to look at him.

"Space coconuts? Really?"

The Doctor gesticulated.

"Well sort of, humans introduced them a few centuries back."

Martha shook her head in amazement. The Doctor never failed to surprise her.

Opening the cupboard, she spied the pack of unopened biscuits and something else that caught her eye.

She picked up the little green box and opened it.

Inside were at least thirty small cocktail umbrellas ready for use.

She smiled.

"Can't you find them, Martha?" the Doctor asked her.

Martha looked at him and walked over.

"What did I say? Maybe if you stopped looking for them they'll show up?" she said.

Martha gave him the green box and he opened it.

His face lit up like the Blackpool illuminations.

"HA! The umbrellas! Where did you find them?" he asked her, pure delight resonating through his voice and features.

"Next to the Paradise Three biscuits."

"So that's where I put them!"

The Doctor took two of the umbrellas out and opened them up in all their red, yellow and blue splendour, twirling thme in his fingers.

"You must have placed them there for next time," Martha told him.

"Indeed," the Doctor agreed.

"Now, how about I get those biscuits and you tell me more about Paradise Three?" Martha asked.

"That's sounds like a plan to me," the Doctor agreed, content that he'd found his umbrellas.

END


End file.
